There did he labour one whole week, to show
The wisdom of an apple dumpling maker;
And lo! so deep was majesty in dough,
The palace seem’d the lodging of a baker!
Gillray was not the only caricaturist who turned the king’s weaknesses to ridicule, but none caricatured them with so little gentleness, or evidently with so good a will. On the 7th of March, 1796, the princess of Wales gave birth to a daughter, so well known since as the princess Charlotte. The king is said to have been charmed with his grandchild, and this sentiment appears to have been anticipated by the public, for on the 13th of February, when the princess’s accouchment was looked forward to with general interest, a print appeared under the title of “Grandpapa in his Glory.” In this caricature, which is given in our cut No. 229, king George, seated, is represented nursing and feeding the royal infant in an extraordinary degree of homeliness. He is singing the nursery rhyme—
There was a laugh and a craw,
There was a giggling honey,
Goody good girl shall be fed,
But naughty girl shall have noney.
This print bears no name, but it is known to be by Woodward, though it betrays an attempt to imitate the style of Gillray. Gillray was often imitated in this manner, and his prints were not unfrequently copied and pirated. He even at times copied himself, and disguised his own style, for the sake of gaining money.